Photocatalytic Activity of Zr Doped ZnO and Its Morphology

Abstract

Doped ZnO with Zr has been obtained by sol-gel method and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectrum, Scanning electron micrographs, and UV–visible diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Powder XRD shows that synthesized Zr doped ZnO has hexagonal wurtzite structure and high crystallinity, DRS reveals that wavelength are shifted from UV region to visible region when Zr doping. PL spectra clearly reveal that the recombinations of electron-hole pair in ZnO are suppressed by Zr doping. Zr-doping enhances the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye than ZnO under visible light.